Korea Weekend Box Office - Nov. 9-11

Lots of interesting things going on at the Korean boxoffice last week. The top film, LE GRAND CHEF, actually increased its weekend haul, rising 15% from last weekend. You do not see that happen very often. After 10 days, CHEF has made about $9 million.

In No. 2 was Ang Lee's LUST, CAUTION, which I think is pretty good for a 2 1/2 hour sexual thriller. In just three days, LUST made about $1.9 million. In the United States, the film has needed 45 days to make just $3.7 million.

In third, GOING BY THE BOOK has now topped 2 million admissions, which is generally considered a solid outing.

Fuji-TV's HERO is now up to 224,000 admissions. Not great, but not bad.

Finally, the No. 9 film, SEVEN DAYS, is pretty interesting this week, as the film has not even been released yet. At least not officially. But already it has pulled in 30,000 admissions before it even hits the screens. Not sure how I feel about this. After all, 30,000 admissions will not make a big difference to its overall admissions count, so it is not like the distributor is trying to boost its numbers. But, still, it does look odd.

Anyhow, congratulations to SEVEN DAYS, for being the latest Korean film to get the Hollywood remake treatment. Summit Entertainment apparently is planning on making a $30 million remake in the next year or so.

This Week	Title............................................	Release Date	Screens Nationwide	Weekend Attendance	Total Attendance
1.	Le Grand Chef (Sikkaek - Korean)	11.01	412	507,151	1,290,330
2.	Lust, Caution	11.08	298	226,722	269,423
3.	Going by the Book (Bareuge Salja - Korean)	10.18	279	182,769	1,981,630
4.	The Butterfly	11.08	242	93,427	124,833
5.	Lost Lines	11.08	205	85,153	100,003
6.	Hero (Japan)	10.25	239	49,415	223,979
7.	Shadows in the Palace (Gungneo - Korean)	10.18	249	46,822	1,349,965
8.	Kingdom	11.01	173	44,029	224,410
9.	Seven Days (Korean)	11.14 (!)	50	15,008	29,843
10.	Black Dahlia	11.01	196	13,892	120,080

(Source: KOBIS - Figures represent 97% of nationwide box office)

Btw, what is up with international boxoffice reports that have two films from India leading this past weekend? According to the trades, OM SHANTI OM made about $17 million, while SAAWARIYA came second with $14.4 million.

My problem with these reports? I cannot find a weekend ever when the entire top-10 of the Indian boxoffice earned even $12 million. Ever. And now two films alone have pulled in $30 million? Seems very unlikely. I suspect someone is playing games with their numbers.